When you are force to kill the one you love
by Sabaku No Shiaki
Summary: 'That can't be' Shikamaru bit his lower lips and groaned inwardly. 'But both of them were so identical. Blue green eyes, blonde hair, same clothes. What if they really are the same person? That means . . . OH SH*T' With a dreadful looked, he said. "We are in trouble."
1. Prologue

**Hello! I did tell you all that i'm having an exam right? And well, before the exam, i was writing this story and i was also fixing the story up :D it's a mess and i find it difficult to end it. ( it doesn't mean that it going to meet it end soon) so i make a prologue and also rewrite the whole story. Just adding something here and there of course. So, you all really need to reread the whole story. Thank you again for reading :D Please enjoy~**

* * *

Kankurou and Temari were chatting quietly in the corner of the waiting room when Baki came out with Gaara and a few other council members in tow from the meeting room. Kankurou and Temari quickly stood up and bowed politely to Gaara before walking to his side. Kankurou on the left and Temari on the right.

"How is it Ga- I mean Kazekage-sama?" Kankurou quickly revised the formality when Temari nudged him using her hand-sized fan from behind.

Gaara just continued on walking silently and went into his office. Kankurou and Temari quickly followed and entered.

He sat on his office chair while staring at his siblings in front of him. They stared at one another, no one brave enough to break the silence until Kankurou couldn't resist the urge to shout. He couldn't stand it. He hated silence. He hated standing still. If he kept it on, he might go crazy for real. –Though he was already crazy to the point that he talked to his own puppet.

"Gaara! Just tell us already!" Kankurou demanded rudely. Forgetting the fact that the boy he was shouting at was a Kazekage, a jinchuriki and a psychopath murderer.

Temari turned towards him and glared her usual death glare which could kill little kids in an instance. Her expression was filled with anger and Kankurou could swear that he saw her expression saying DON'T – YOU – SHOUT – AT – HIM – YOU – DUMBASS! Kankurou shrank in an instance as he started fidgeting with his cat like hood in the corner beside a large drawer. Turning around to face the Kazekage, Temari gave him her sweetest smile. Well, she tried her best to smile as sweetly as possible.

"So, Gaara. How's the meeting?"

Gaara stared at her coldly without any emotion like usual before he took out a scroll out of nowhere and put it on the table.

"This is the result of the meeting." Gaara said before stopping to look at the door.

Temari quickly walked to Gaara's side as someone knocked on the door. Temari answered for Gaara, knowing him for years as a sister, she knew that Gaara would try his best to avoid answering such trivia things.

"You may enter."

The door opened and a man walked in. The man was Baki, their former teacher. He was wearing his usual outfit. A turban, a long cloth that covered half of his face, and a scowl.

"Excuse me, Kazekage-sama. Have you told them their mission?" Baki asked as soon as he stood right in front of the Kazekage.

Temari quirked one of her eyebrows and looked at her lovely little brother.

"What mission, Gaara?"

Gaara stayed silent. Baki looked at him and sighed tiredly. He needed to answer it for the Kazekage. _Again_.

"Please allow me to tell you. Temari, Kankurou, you two need to send the scroll to Konoha. Give it to Hokage-sama, wait for her reply and return here." Baki explained as he pointed at the scroll.

Temari nodded and grabbed the scroll. "What's this scroll about?"

Before Baki could answer, Gaara spoke. "It's the peace treaty extension. We need to ask the Hokage's opinion before we hold the two village meeting."

Temari nodded. Kankurou who had been fidgeting in the corner had stood in front of Gaara in his regular size with a confident grin.

"There's no need to worry then. You can count on me! That's for sure!"

Temari chuckled at Kankurou's confident statement and Baki was smiling while Gaara just looked at him coldly without expression like usual but the sand siblings knew that inside, he was actually smiling.

"Kankurou, confidence is a blessing but you must know that arrogance is a curse. Remember that." Baki gave him a lecture before bowing and left the room.

Temari was now standing beside the pouting Kankurou, Temari playfully nudged him using her elbow and turned to look at her younger brother.

"So, when do we leave, Gaara?"

Gaara stared at her for a while before answering. "In 25 minutes. I will give you 10 minutes to pack your things and after that, meet me at the mission assignment room."

"Yes sir!" Both of them said in unison and disappeared into the thin air.

* * *

"Remember! You must return here as soon as the reply from the Hokage was given." Baki said as he bowed at the two siblings.

"Yes we will! Don't worry." Kankurou replied with his usual toothy grin.

Temari just nodded and continued to fan herself using her handheld fan. She looked behind her and sighed.

"Ga- I mean Kazekage-sama, is it.." Temari pointed at the two ANBU behind her "..necessary?"

Gaara stared at her for a minute. "Yes, it is." He continued when he saw Temari was about to argue. "Don't worry, they will only accompany you for half way. Only until you past the border line of the Fire and Wind country."

Temari sighed. She knew better than to argue with her lovely little brother. No one could win against him. Reason? 1. He is the Kazekage. 2. His word is absolute. 3. I believe you don't have a death wish.

"Alright, then. We need to get going now, Kankurou." Temari said.

"Okay!" Kankurou replied as he adjusted his scroll on his back once again.

"Kazekage-sama, we will protect this scroll even if it means our live depends on it." Temari bowed as Kankurou followed suit.

Gaara nodded his head and he smiled –a really RARE smile!- slightly and quickly hid it again before his fan girls could see it. But Temari, Kankurou and Baki noticed it.

"Be careful." Gaara said.

"Don't worry, we will be back in no time at all!" Temari shouted as they started to run to the endless desert towards Konoha.

* * *

"Thank you for your services, be careful on your way home." Temari nodded at the two ANBU in front of her.

"Thank you, Lady Temari. Please be safe." Temari nodded again at them. "We will get going then. Please be safe, Lady Temari, Lord Kankurou."

Kankurou smiled and waved at them as they started running further into the forest. The ANBUs stood there gazing at them before returning to Suna. They would love to protect them longer but they were bind by order. With unwillingness, they ran back into the endless sand towards their lovely village.

Kankurou and Temari were running silently without resting. Kankurou said that they needed to make the three days journey into two despite Temari's angry glare. But somehow he managed to convince her –after receiving a few punches and hits along the way, of course!

"Kankurou, I think we need to change it into 2 and a half day." Temari said and stopped suddenly.

Her pupils were darting across the forest warily but didn't make it really obvious. Kankurou turned around to argue but stopped. He may be stupid –don't hit me, Kankurou's fans! I love him too- but he was not an idiot. He could see how his sister's eyes were scanning around the forest and her lips twitching anxiously. As she looked up at him, she secretly made a few signal.

_Enemy . . . . 2 Jounin level chakra . . . 3 o'clock . . . 5 o'clock . . . Stay calm_

Kankurou's eyes twitched at the information. His hands were trying to reach for the scroll on his back but he quickly strained the urge and faked it as scratching his back. Using his other hand, he made a few secret signals to Temari while whistling.

"Tired already, Nee-chan?" He teased while looking around the area. He faked his hand from scratching his head to a symbol.

Temari glared at him before replying his message along her mockery. "Of course not. "

"Really?" Kankurou arched his eyebrow and smiled. "It's around 3 o'clock now, isn't it? How many rational bars **left** for me, Sis?"

Temari smiled. She sent and snapped her eyes shut, faking a thinking pose as she tried to focus on the enemy chakra. _1 . . . 2 . . . . . 3 . . . _

"Yes, it is indeed **3 o'clock**. There's **1** bar left for you, my lovely little brother. And the rest **2** bars will be mine for me to eat at **5 o'clock**." Temari smiled and put her left hand on her back hip before snapping her handheld fan shut.

"Only 1?! It's not enough, Sis!" Kankurou whined.

Temari glared at him with her famous killing glare which made Kankurou smile warily and a small puppy tail appeared on his butt, wagging nervously. He put on his puppy eyes. His black hood encouraged him even more since it looked a lot like an ear.

"No means no!" Temari closed her eyes and formed a few plans on her head silently. The enemy ninjas weren't really far, they only needed 10 minutes to reach them and attack. _Wait . . hmm . . Good idea. . . Great. . I know what to do. ._

"Not fair." Kankurou muttered silently as he secretly made a few hand signs. He was ready! "Oh my! Nature calls!" Kankurou shouted suddenly and quickly ran further into the woods.

_Urgh! Can't he be more patient?! If he attacks them, I can't ambush the other. I need to fight them now, huh?!_ Temari thought. _Grr.. Dammit! Okay then! I will attack them now if I really must._

She smiled inwardly at her plans. _Perfect!_ Using her handheld fan, she made a small tornado filled with chakra. From afar, it might look like she was playing with the wind but actually, she was planning an attack. The small tornado would keep on twirling across the road and if it kept it on, the tornado would grow bigger and bigger and finally it could kill someone who was caught in it.

"Now go and grow bigger." She whispered as the wind started to form a mini tornado. The mini tornado started to turn towards the South East.

Temari smiled evilly. _It's going to be so much fun!_ She turned to the nearest tree and leaned on it, closing her eyes calmly but stayed focus. She tracked down the mini tornado she sent, it had become nearer to the enemy nin but the wind tornado hadn't become as big as she wanted, it needed more wind. Temari cursed silently. _Never mind, it will be enough as a distraction._ _A little more . . Yes!_

In the forest around South East, the trees collapsed as the tornado kept on becoming bigger and bigger. It crushed through the trees that were on its way. The leaves and the branches from the ground started to swirl into the huge tornado. The dust, pebbles, even the insects were caught in it. The enemy ninja who was standing right in front of the tornado quickly jumped to another tree and another.

_Shit! I need to get away from this thing! Why didn't I realize this attack?!_ The enemy ninja couldn't help but jump to the road, out of the woods. "Shit!" The enemy cursed as he realized his mistake.

* * *

Temari couldn't help but smile devilishly at the person in front of her. The person was wearing a sandy colored long sleeved shirt with the matching pants and black sandals. From the height and posture, it could be identified as a man. He also had on a cloth that hid the lower part of his face, concealing his identity. The enemy ninja didn't wear a flak jacket and a head protector. _Missing nin?_

In a quick movement, she snapped her mini fan close and grabbed the scroll behind her back as she unrolled it. Breaking the seal, her battle fan appeared. A rare metal from the Iron country for the handle that could repel any kind of weapon, it could also be used as a club and a special made cloth with an outer wax layer from Suna that could withstand the sharpest kunai or katana, it could even protect Temari from a fire jutsu –she usually used it to protect herself in the sandstorm.

Without wasting any time, Temari unfolded her battle fan, showing the three stars. _I shouldn't waste any time. The scroll must be delivered as quickly as possible._

"Wind release: Great Task of the Dragon!" Temari shouted as she finished all the needed hand signs.

She swung her fan to the sky as the sky started to get darker and darker. The enemy started to panic but settled down after seeing nothing had happened at all.

"What's that? Nothing happened." The enemy nin said mockingly at Temari.

The man started snickering at her and took out a kunai from the holster. "Looks like the wind hates you."

Temari smiled wickedly back at him. "We'll see about that."

As she finished talking, the dark sky started to rumble loudly. There was lightning around the dark clouds. It kept on rumbling, each time louder than before.

"The wind is my friend." Temari said proudly as she lifted her left hand up, pointing at the darkening sky with her index finger.

As if it was controlled by her, the sky started to open. The dark sky became the former shiny sky with puffy clouds, but a big tornado was formed in the center of the shiny and puffy sky. The large tornado swirled down from the sky towards the enemy nin. Roaring terrifyingly, the tornado engulfed the man. The wind slashed his shirt, leaving scars on his face and arms, tearing the cloth that was concealing his face.

"Urghhh. ." The man groaned loudly.

He was lifted up by the tornado, a few inches from the ground. Hands apart and face looking up to the sky. Blood was appearing from the corner of his mouth and on the scratches.

Temari smiled in victory. _A little longer and he will be dead. One down, one more to- What the?!_

"Aarrhh . . ." Temari screamed as she was sent flying and stumbled across a big tree.

Coughing out blood, Temari lost her consciousness for 3 or 4 seconds.

* * *

Kankurou stopped midway when he heard someone walking a few feet behind him. Grinning darkly, Kankurou cracked her knuckles impatiently. _Let the show begin!_

"Puppet perfoma- Temari?!" Kankurou stopped, looking bewildered at his older sister. He had taken out his scrolls and two of them had been unrolled halfway.

In front of him stood an injured Temari. Her travelling suit was torn, blood was pouring from the injury on her left hand, her cheek filled with scratches, the four ponytails that she always had were ruined, and her head protector was no longer to be seen.

"Temari?! What's wrong? Are you alright?!" Kankurou asked as he rushed towards her side. Leaving the scroll unrolled on the ground. "What happened?!"

Temari coughed out more blood as she looked up at him. Her left eyes were swollen and a bruise was formed under her right cheek. "Enemy. . . There's suddenly an ambush. . . I didn't sense them . . ." Coughing out more blood, she continued, "I was-"

Kankurou stared at her, he had stopped listening. His mind started to work. _Did she just say that she didn't sense them?!_

" . . Kankurou . . Kankurou . . How's the scroll?! It's safe with you, right?" Temari shook him hardly on the shoulder as he finally snapped out of it.

_What?! This . . . Looks like I was a little too late._ Kankurou smiled at her as he stood up, dusting the dirt off from his pants. "Don't worry, nee-chan. The scroll is safe. There's nothing to worry about."

Temari beamed at him as she stood up as well. "Great! Let me see the scroll. To check it!"

"Healed already, nee-chan?" Kankurou asked as he touched the scroll containing his puppets.

Temari paled immediately. Noticing her expression, Kankurou quickly broke the seal and his battle puppet appeared. Without even introducing his puppets' names, he attacked Temari immediately.

Controlling the puppets expertly, he sent Karasu and Sanshuou spinning around her, making the victim confused. Looking terrified, Temari shouted at her brother. "Otouto! What are you doing?!"

Kankurou didn't answer. No need to answer to a fake anyway. Suddenly the third puppet, Kuroari burst out from the ground and sent Temari flying a few feet from the ground. Kankurou smiled and moved his fingers, opening the wooden trap on Kuroari's body. Its wooden door opened as it caught Temari and trapped her into its body. Smiling devilishly, he moved his other fingers that controlled Shansuou and Karasu. Each part of the puppets' limbs came out flowing and showed their hidden weapons. Shining sharply under the sun.

"Black Secret Technique: Machine One Shot!"

The limbs entered every slot of Kuroari in a flash as it impaled Temari inside it.

"Nooo!" An agony scream came out from Temari as she was stabbed mercilessly and died. But before letting out her last breath, she showed her true identity. Releasing the Henge.

"Hmph. Temari never called me otouto. Only when she is teasing me, she will call me that!" Kankurou growled as he snapped his head to the left. "Time to help Temari."

* * *

"Urgh . ." Temari groaned as her consciousness had returned. _Damn it! I shouldn't let my guard down! Ouch . . My right arm._

Her right arm was hurt, her muscles were extracted around the biceps and she had a few scratches. _A wind user too huh?!_ She swallowed her blood stained saliva and stood up, looking at the enemies in front of her. The man who was engulfed in the tornado had a lot of scratches and injuries. _If only he stayed a little longer, it would kill him!_ And the other enemy ninja beside him was still untouched.

The newcomer was wearing a red sandy long sleeved shirt that reached her thighs. She had on a skirt that was just a few inches longer than her shirt. The brown skirt reached her knees and she had on a black open-toed sandals. Her hair was tied up into a right side ponytail, leaving a long braided bang to the other side of her face. Her lower face was also concealed by a white cloth.

Temari stared at her while trying to catch her breath. Half of her chakra was gone. Although she hated to admit it, but she needed Kankurou's help right now!

"Are you alright?" The woman asked the man beside her, she was standing proudly with two kunai in each hand.

"Yes. But we need to kill her since she has seen my face." The man replied. The woman turned to look at her, shock was written all over her face.

"Damn!" She cursed, drawing Temari's attention.

As soon as they finished talking, Temari realized that she actually didn't pay attention to the man's face, and what the man said reminded her of it. Temari squinted her eyes. After having another look at the man's face, she gasped. _No- no way!_ "Yu-Yura-san?!" _Wait . . . Did I just stutter?_

The man who was called Yura, as well as one of the Suna council members stood up. He looked sadly at Temari. He actually didn't want to kill her or Kankurou. What he wanted was the scroll. He didn't want an alliance between the two villages. So he looked up two other Suna ninjas who opposed to that idea to help him out in this mission.

"I'm sorry, Temari-sama. But you have seen my face, so you have to die." He said sullenly.

Temari stared at him with a disbelieving look. _Impossible!_ Yura was one of the ninjas who truly cared about Suna with his whole life. He always did everything he could to protect Suna, but now . . .

"Why did you do this?" Temari asked as blood started to river up in her mouth.

"They said that dead people would find their answers in the afterlife." With that, Yura weaved a few hand signs as he started running towards Temari.

His eyes were scanning Temari from head to toe, looking for her weakness. His partner quickly followed him and also weaved a lot of complicated hand signs. Temari quickly back-flipped and jumped horizontally onto a tree, chakra fuelling her feet. Her battle fan was lying across her. _I need to take my fan!_ Taking out her handheld fan, she fueled her hand with chakra and it entered the fan. _This must do!_

"Wind release: Slashing Nets!"

Using the small fan, she waved the fan. _Hard._ The wind filled with chakra created a lot of wind nets that could slice anyone into pieces. _Shit! It's not as strong!_

"Wind release: Wall of the Wind!" The woman countered using her wind jutsu and the wind behind her started to fly pass the wind nets Temari created. Leaving Temari's jutsu ineffective.

_Damn it!_ Temari cursed as she scanned around her. She needed her battle fan or else. Unnoticed by Temari, Yura had appeared behind her and gave her a kick behind her back. Temari coughed out blood again as she flipped and knocked onto the nearest tree. Not letting her go yet, Yura appeared in front of her in a flash and gave her another round of kicks and punches. Temari tried her best to deflect the taijutsu attack from the older man. She blocked the punch and managed to give Yura a kick too.

"Yura!" The woman called out as she jumped to his side.

Yura nodded at her and made a hand sign. "Fire release: Phoenix Rain!"

"Wind release: Air Blast!"

Yura and the woman used a combo attack, combining the two affinities and created a bigger fire as a result. The fire started to become bigger and bigger as the wind from the woman assisted it.

"Fire Thunder Technique!" Both of them shouted as the fire flew towards Temari who was pivoting on the ground.

_Shit! I can't use any of my jutsu! Fan, I need my fan!_ Scanning around the area, her eyes were then fixed on her fan that was a few centimeters away from her. _I can do this!_ Running across the ground, trying her best to avoid the enemy jutsu, she rolled onto the ground and grabbed her fan. Looking back, the fire jutsu had turned towards her. _Shit!_ In a quick movement, she unfolded her fan and hid under it.

* * *

Kankurou ran extra fast -more like sprinting actually. A few minutes ago, he was walking slowly and taking his time. But suddenly, he heard Temari's loud agony scream. He never heard Temari scream like that before. She may groan, growl, hiss, everything, but not screaming in agony. She would always won against a greater enemy, but looks like this time she met her match. So instead of resting around, he decided to run and help her.

And now, a few more steps to go before he could finally find her. _A little more! Temari, wait for me! Ah there she i- . . . ._ Kankurou stopped on his track. He couldn't move even the slightest. The scene in front of him was . . . . . .

* * *

"AAAAAAAAAAA . . . . . . . . . ." She screamed loudly with all her power.

She had succeeded on grabbing her battle fan and used it as her shield. But what she didn't know was that the fire jutsu was a hundred times more powerful than she had thought. The fan couldn't protect her like it usually did. The outer wax layer had actually melted –it never melted before! It was a really strong wax that could withstand any kinds of Fire jutsu- and since Temari was hiding behind the large fan, which meant the cloth and also the wax layer was directly above her. That meant . . . . . . The wax had melted all over Temari.

* * *

"Temari! Are you alright?! Temari?!" Kankurou shouted at her.

He had finally been able to move his body and quickly ran to his sister's side while assisting her wrecked body. Half of Temari's face was covered with wax which left her with the other half of her eyes. And almost all her upper body was covered in wax. Thankfully, her lower part was remained untouched.

"Temari! Can you answer me?!" Kankurou asked.

He was still by her side and the large battle fan of his sister was beside him, a little wrecked and burned. The cloth was half burned and the remaining wax melted all over the handle.

"Ugh . . . . Kank . . Kankurou?" Temari asked after a few minutes of unconsciousness. "Hot . . Hot."

Kankurou just stared at his big sister. He was no medic nin and all he knew was poison. He didn't understand and wasn't even talented in the medic part. Maybe he was not talented but he had the ability to control chakra well since he was, after all, a puppeteer –a puppeteer needs a strong chakra control-. He remembered how Baki-sensei gave him an opportunity to learn the medic basic but he refused, saying that it didn't suit him. And now, he regretted it.

"Looks like Rika failed." The woman who had been forgotten a while ago said menacingly. "Hey, you twit head! Just give us your scroll and I will let you go along with Temari-sama!"

Kankurou's ear twitched as he heard how the woman called his sister's name. _Temari-sama? She called her with such an honorific term. She must be someone from Suna._

Kankurou was about to reply when Temari's hand grabbed his wrist, pulling him back to the crouching position he was in a while ago.

"Don't. Here, take this." Temari whispered softly on his ear and took out the scroll from the inner fold of her kimono. "Take the scroll and run to Konoha! Don't ever stop or look back."

Kankurou stared at her. "Wh-what?! No . . No, Sis . . I can-"

"I am not requesting you, Sabaku No Kankurou! I am giving you command. This is an order. Now go!" Temari said again with authority.

A ninja could be heartless but they could never disobey an order no matter what. They would listen to the orders that were given to them without a second thought. If there were any ninjas that were brave enough to break the order that had been given to them, that meant punishment was waiting for them.

"Bu-" Kankurou stopped as soon as he saw how determined his sister was. "Yes ma'am."

He quickly slipped the important scroll into his inner pocket and jumped up. He fueled his foot with chakra and jumped real high. Slipping his hand into the folded part of his shirt, he pulled out a kunai with a bomb tag on it as he threw it to the direction of the enemy. Weaving a few hand signs, he activated the bomb.

BOOOOOMMMBBB . . . . . . .

* * *

Temari sighed tiredly as she looked at the man beside her. Men are really thickheaded after all. "Do you really want to receive punishment so badly?"

Kankurou just grinned back at her and turned his eyes to the enemies in front of them. "Ne . . Your fan is wrecked. What will you do?"

"This will be enough." Temari replied as she took out the handheld fan out of nowhere. She suddenly winced. Her wax-covered upper body was still trying to adjust with the new situation she was in. _Damn! It hurts! I never knew that this fan had its disadvantage!_ "We need to finish them now."

"Let's do this then." Kankurou replied as his eyes set on Yura who was scanning them too. "I will make that man regret what he had done."

* * *

"What's wrong with you, Temari-sama? You are becoming slower and slower. Tired already?" The woman taunted, looking mockingly at Temari who was gripping her right, wax-covered shoulder.

"Shut up!" Temari groaned as she forced herself to move her right shoulder. _It hurts like hell! Just now's wound + wax?! Not a good combination!_ "Summoning: Quick Beheading Dance!"

A big gust of wind formed and a weasel appeared in the middle of the air as the weasel started slashing down the whole ground and forest and it managed to scratch the woman until she flew across the ground.

"Ugh . ." The woman groaned loudly as she tried to get up.

"This is the e- Argh!" Temari shouted as she was suddenly attack by a fire jutsu from behind. _Sneak attack?! Where's Kankurou?!_

She gripped her shoulder as she scanned behind her. _Not good._ Kankurou was on the ground, clutching his head when suddenly he.. _poof_!

"A shadow clone?!" The three of them shouted, disbelief was written all over their faces.

'_Well, at least he did obey my order and escape. Which means the scroll is safe._' Temari thought.

'_Oh no . . This is bad. He had seen Yura-sama's face and if he told everyone, it . . . THIS IS BAD!'_ The woman thought.

'_Oh my . . I need to catch! I need to catch HIM NOW!'_ Yura thought.

All of them back flipped and scanned at one another and finally the woman and Yura nodded their head in agreement.

"I will leave her to you then, Yura!" The woman shouted and sprinted to the direction of Konoha. She fueled all her chakra into her feet and sprinted as quickly as possible, leaving the two.

"Oh no, you won't!" Temari shouted as she was about to follow the woman. However, Yura appeared in front of her in a flash and stopped her.

She quickly back flipped again as she unfolded the small fan in the direction of Yura.

"No, no, no, Temari-sama. Your opponent is me." As soon as he said that, he weaved a few complicated hand signs and took a deep breath. He focused his chakra in his mouth as his breath was combined with his chakra.

"Fire release: Dragon Breath!"

"Oh shit!" Temari said as she quickly back flipped 3 times . . . 4 times . . . 5 . . . 6 . . .

"Argh!" Temari screamed again as she was engulfed in the fire and fell onto the ground. _Hard._ Temari gasped for air as her eyes quickly closed. The fire managed to burn her and some of her hairs. And to make things worse, she could feel the hot wax melting again on her body. _I couldn't move._

"I'm sorry Temari-sama. But . . . I need to do this. Good bye." Yura took out a kunai and in a quick movement . . . . .

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

* * *

Kankurou ran as quickly as he could. A few more meters to go before he could finally arrive in his destination. _A little more!_ But his chakra was quickly decreased –he used half of his chakra to make a shadow clone!- and it was about to hit the max. _Damn this mission!_ Kankurou forced himself to run faster and faster. He could sense someone coming. But surprisingly, it wasn't coming from his back but instead, appeared in front of him. _Konoha's escort? Maybe. But I must not let my guard down_. Kankurou quickened his footsteps but stopped on his track when the unknown nin finally appeared.

"Stop right there! Identify yourselves!" The nin said, surprised by the presence in front of him.

"You better stop now before we arrest you!" Another nin said.

"Wait! I need reinforcement! My sister is in a battle. 6 o'clock. She is hurt badly!" Kankurou said forcefully. "My name is Kankurou. Sabaku No Kankurou. I'm in a mission to deliver an important scroll to the Hokage. See?" Kankurou pulled out his mission pass and showed them.

"Wait." Neji said and turned to look at him before turning to look at his leader. "aren't you Kankurou-san from Suna? He must be the suna nin that Tsuande-sama had said. You said your sister was in battle?"

"Yes. Yes! She is in a battle and she told me to escape! Now stop questioning me first! My sister's life is on stake right now!" He replied impatiently.

Neji turned to look at his team leader again as the team leader sighed.

"Man . . . Can today be more troublesome?!"

"Shikamaru!" Ino hit him on the head as she glared at him.

"Alright, alright! Neji, use your Byakugan to find Kankurou-san's sister. Ino and Chouji, bring Kankurou-san back to the village and report the situation to Lady Tsunade. Call for reinforcement. Now!" Shikamaru commanded as Neji activated his blood line.

"My sister had a fan. A large battle fan and a small handheld fan. She wears a long sleeve light purple kimono." Kankurou said before he finally let himself relaxed and finally dropped onto the ground.

The vein bulged out as he activated his Byakugan. Eyes looking determined. Ino and Chouji quickly scooped Kankurou up and started running to their village in a hurry.

"I saw a meshed up ground not far from here. A woman corpse and wait . . there's another corpse a little further from the woman. What should we do?" Neji asked with his Byakugan still active.

"We will go in a line. Woman first." Shikamaru replied. "Let's hope it's not the sister we are searching for."

* * *

Nothing was even scarier than the scene in front of them now. They had seen the woman corpse. Thankfully, it was not Kankurou's sister. The woman was sliced on her throat and arms. Her limbs were full of scratches. Shikamaru thought that that was the scariest scene he had ever seen but he was mistaken. This! This is the most horrible scene ever!

The corpse's head was cut in half and the head was hanging upside down on one of the tree branches. And the upper part of its –I use "its" because the corpse's identity couldn't be identified- body was severed from the respective place and to make it worse? The corpse's gut was shown.

Shikamaru almost puked right on the place where he stood but somehow he was able to convince himself by telling himself that it would become even more troublesome if he had to clean the mess he had made.

While Neji just stood there impassively. He may look like he was calm, but actually, he was also a little shocked by the scene when he saw it using his Byakugan earlier. His eyes twitched and his mouth was forming into a tight line.

"This is disgusting."

"Where's she?" Shikamaru asked, ignoring the disturbing scene in front of him.

Neji scanned the field again using his Byakugan, then shook his head. "Nowhere."

**_To Be Continued_*****

* * *

**Hello again. Here i am again trying to explain the whole thing to make you guys understand it easier :D**

**First : Temari didn't join the Chuunin Exam invasion! So they know nothing about Temari (they never see her before) which means Shikamaru hasn't seen her yet.**

**Second : only Kankurou and Gaara and one OCC that when to the Chuunin Exam.**

**Third : When was this occur? It will be after shippuden. And it will sometime follow the canon but i will just let it flow. :D**

******So do you enjoy the story? Please R & R!**

**Special thanks for those who have reviewed :D**

**Cybercorpsesnake, Rotzugon, , Kaidouttori, trytohitmyface, gaara lover, airianna**

**trytohitmyface : **sorry for the late update and thank you for reviewing :D

**gaara lover : **Me too! I love them to much! Thank you for reviewing! :D

******airianna : **Oh my! Thank you thank you for your sweet words! *hug hug* Please reread the story~

**Kaidouttori : **Thank you for reviewing!

******Cybercorpsesnake : **Thank you for your sweet compliment and faithful review! *big hug*

******Rotzugon : **Thank you for your compliment. It really is so comforting that the reader love my story :D

****** : **Yeah! Sai is so cute ain't he?! Thank you for your review!

******Please keep on reviewing guys!**


	2. Chapter 1 : Stranger

**Hello! I did tell you all that i'm having an exam right? And well, before the exam, i was writing this story and i was also fixing the story up :D it's a mess and i find it difficult to end it. ( it doesn't mean that it going to meet it end soon) so i make a prologue and also rewrite the whole story. Just adding something here and there of course. So, you all really need to reread the whole story. Thank you again for reading :D Please enjoy~**

* * *

_2 years later_

Shikamaru groaned as he started to look at his friend with a dagger-stared eyes.

"Please Naruto, stop.", he asked, hands still behind his back.

Naruto lifted one of his eyebrows and stared back at him. With a 'Meh', he continued on talking about his last mission with Kiba.

_Can today get any worse?! This is troublesome. . ._

Shikamaru yawned and continued cloud gazing while Naruto continued to talk with his loud voice. The sky was not as bright as usual. And cloud gazing hadn't gave him peace like usual. So he stood up and decided to leave the roof and his noisy friend.

"Hey, Shikamaru! Where are you going?", yelled Naruto.

"Aa. . Gomen. I gotta go. There's something I need to discuss with Godaime-sama.", he lied.

The meeting with Godaime-sama was arranged at five o'clock. So he still had 2 more hours to spend freely before he was stuck in the office room listening to the Hokage's ranting.

"With granny Tsunade? About what?", Naruto asked, he looked interested.

"I find it too troublesome to explain.", he said as he jumped off the roof, leaving the annoyed Naruto behind.

He could feel the glare from Naruto in his back. He yawned again and walked through the street. With his hands in his pocket, Shikamaru walked silently while yawning. He was sleepy. Last night, his mother had managed to force him to clean his room and as the result, he was force to clean it all day long and he didn't have time to take a nap or cloud watching. Yesterday sucks.

_That damn Naruto. If he didn't show up, I could easily fall asleep as usual. Ooh, I hate that man!_ Shikamaru stopped and quirked his eyebrow. _Nah, I may be don't like him but it doesn't mean that I hate him. Right?_

He walked past some of his friends. He saw Shino at the Weaponry store with Kiba, and Akamaru of course, Ebisu leading his troop of genins through the street, Lee and Guy-sensei walking using their hands. _Another kind of training I see . ._

Suddenly he stopped. He saw his chubby best friend, Chouji standing in front of the Yamanaka flower shop.

"Yo!", Shikamaru greeted.

Chouji looked back and smiled. A big bag of potato chips in his hands. It was opened wide and there's only a few chips left.

"Hey, Shikamaru."

"What are you doing here?", Shikamaru asked, scratching his head.

"Well, Ino asked me to come, but it looks like she isn't at home now.", he replied, taking one of the chips and munched it loudly.

"I see. Maybe she is shopping with Sakura right now and lost track of time.", Shikamaru suggested.

"Yeah. Maybe.", Chouji pouted.

Shikamaru laughed at him and put his hands back into the pocket.

"How about a lunch? I'm kinda hungry right now.", Shikamaru suggested. "The usual?"

Chouji beamed immediately and swallowed the whole chips in one motion.

"Your treat!", he answered and walked quickly while Shikamaru just kept his usual speed. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and yawned for the umpteenth times today.

* * *

"Oh yeah, Shikamaru, have you heard about Akatsuki?", asked Chouji suddenly after they had ordered their food.

"Hmm? Akatsuki? ", Shikamaru was puzzled. _I think I have heard that name somewhere. Hmm.. But where? _"Nah, never heard them before."

"Never mind." Chouji said with a kind smile in his face like always.

"So, what's about them?", Shikamaru asked, a little intrigued by the sudden question.

"Well, I heard that they are a group of rogue ninjas. They betrayed their villages and they..", Chouji trailed off when the waitress came with their foods.

The waitress put the tea in front of them and 3 plate of meat in front of Chouji.

"Here you go. If you need anything else, just call.", she said and bowed before leaving them with their orders.

Shikamaru nodded his head while his eyes still looking at Chouji.

"So, what are you going to say again?", Shikamaru started the conversation again.

"Oh, yeah.", Chouji took one of the meat and place it on the grill. "Hmm.. You see, the Akatsuki *_munc_h* is a bunch *_munch* _of missing nins *_munch*_. They kill many ninjas with some weird reasons. So, they are very dangerous."

Shikamaru gulped and murmured the word "mendokuse", his usual catchphrase.

"So?", Shikamaru pressed on as he took a piece of meat from Chouji's plate.

"Well, I heard that one of those nins come to our village.", His voice was dead serious, unlike usual. "So, our villages might be in danger."

Shikamaru was taken aback. He looked up from the plate towards Chouji.

"How do you know that?" Shikamaru gushed suddenly. The tea he was holding mid air forgotten.

"Hmm . . . I . . . well . . . I kinda overheard it at the gate. Kotetsu-san and Izumo-san were talking and I was sent there to take something so . . . I just . . . curious . . . so . ." Feeling uneasy because he was caught eavesdropping.

Shikamaru stared at him then burst out laughing. "I . . . see . . . Good job . . ." He managed to say it.

Chouji smiled and started to eat the cooked meat, feeling a little better. Shikamaru joined soon after. They chatted a few times before fell into silent. Each one with their own thoughts. Shikamaru may look composed but actually, he was completely puzzled and couldn't stop thinking. When he looked up, he saw a clock that was hung on the wall behind Chouji. The clock showed a quarter to five. Shikamaru's jaw dropped. He was going to be late. And now, his mind couldn't stop imagine how scary Godaime-sama was going to be if he was late. _Damn!_ Last time he was late, Godaime-sama punished him by giving all her paper works to him, saying that it was his punishment. But Shikamaru knew better.

"Sorry Chouji, I gotta go. If I'm late, Godaime-sama is going to kill me.", Shikamaru said and put some money on the table.

"It's okay. See you later then.", Chouji smiled and continued munching on the barbeque meat.

Shikamaru got up from his seat and walked towards the door. Before going out, he turned to look at the big-boned ninja.

"Next time, don't eavesdrop." Shikamaru prompted.

Chouji looked up, still munching on the food. His cheeks a little flush. "*_munch* _Hai *_munch*_"

Shikamaru smirked and waved his hands before walking out from the barbeque shop and headed to the Hokage's office.

"_5 more minutes",_ he thought.

But Shikamaru just continued on keeping his usual pace and walked reluctantly with a deep slouched. He put his hands in his pocket like always, eyes staring up at the sky. It was light blue and bright with a lot of puffy clouds. The cloud was unusually white without a hint of black or grey. He was very sure, today wouldn't rain. Suddenly a wind passed through his face and it made him shudder. The sudden wind gave him a very bad feeling.

"Aaargh..", a rather low and hoarse voice groaned loudly out of nowhere which scared Shikamaru a little.

Turning back in reflect, Shikamaru scanned his surrounding.

"Who's that?", Shikamaru said loudly while looking around him, with a kunai on his right hand, ready to attack anyone.

Suddenly, a dozen kunais appeared. They were flying towards him in high speed but since Shikamaru was not a genin, he managed to dodge all the kunais gracefully using his own weapon.

Just then he saw a person laying on the ground.

_To Be Continued_***

* * *

**So do you enjoy the story? Please R & R!**

**Special thanks for those who have reviewed :D**

**Cybercorpsesnake, Rotzugon, , Kaidouttori, trytohitmyface, gaara lover, airianna**


	3. Chapter 2 : Unanswered Question

**Hello! I did tell you all that i'm having an exam right? And well, before the exam, i was writing this story and i was also fixing the story up :D it's a mess and i find it difficult to end it. ( it doesn't mean that it going to meet it end soon) so i make a prologue and also rewrite the whole story. Just adding something here and there of course. So, you all really need to reread the whole story. Thank you again for reading :D Please enjoy~**

* * *

Shikamaru quickly ran towards the person. The person wore a black robe with red edges and some red clouds on the bottom of the robe. The robe was full of scratch and there were some bloods on the arms and back. Oh yeah, and on the robe too. The robe's sleeves were torn. Shikamaru couldn't see the owner's face since the person was wearing a rather large straw hat with a lot of string sewn on it, blocking the face.

_What the hell just happened?! What's with this person anyway. . ._

"Ugh . .", the person groaned again as the person tried to get up. _Well, at least he didn't faint._

Shikamaru quickly helped him up and now he could see his face clearly since his straw hat slipped from his head and onto the ground. Shikamaru gasped as he took a step back a little. Correction, the _He_ was actually a _She_. Well, you couldn't blame Shikamaru could you? Since the woman's voice was rather too low and too hoarse for a woman! Maybe it was too low for a Konoha woman anyway.

Shikamaru stared at the woman. Her cheeks were bleeding and there were some bruises around her right cheek. She had on a really weird hairstyle, four ponytails –unique huh- and her hair color was blonde, beautiful blue green eyes with long eyelashes framing her rather large eyes. She looked kinda scary and somehow arrogant.

As they finally stood up properly, the girl winced and looked up at Shikamaru –Shikamaru was taller than her, mind you! – Before she quickly got out from Shikamaru's grip. Shikamaru stared at her. A little shocked from the sudden reaction she gave and he just realized that he was still holding her until she got out from his grip.

The woman was staring at him, wide eyes and her mouth opened slightly. Her eyes soften somehow and a little teary at that. _Shi . . Shikamaru?! _After a few minutes which felt like minutes, she quickly composed herself and cleared her throat. She gulped silently and pretended that she didn't know him.

"Who are you?" The woman asked arrogantly, eyes looking anywhere but Shikamaru.

"What a manner." Shikamaru said absentmindedly and when he realized, it was too late.

The woman was already reaching into her robe and took out a small fan. In a second, Shikamaru was hit on his head. Groaning in frustration, Shikamaru grumbled. "Troublesome woman."

The woman's lips involuntarily tilted upward for 3 seconds before she quickly assuaged herself. _I must control myself . . . Dammit!_

He looked at her and his jaw dropped. _Did she . . . SMILE?!_

Although it was only for a second, but Shikamaru dared to swear in his clan's name! He saw her smile. Well, not the usual kind of smile. He only saw that her lips quirked up a little, just a little. But he saw it! He may be lazy, but he was good in observing someone.

'_When she smiled, she looked kinda . . pretty . . ._ _What?! Wait! Did I just say that she is pretty?! NO WAY! NO WAY! I must be sick! I WOULD NEVER think that she is pretty. Women are troublesome. I HATE girls!', _-He said he hated girls! Not WOMEN!- Shikamaru struggled with himself, shaking his head that it looked as if it was about to fall off. He shook his head even more, trying to clear his mind, calming himself down, he didn't even realize that he was being watched.

The woman just looked at him with a confused face but her upper lips were tilted upward. _Never change huh . . . Still as weird as ever._

She sighed at her own thought then shook all those unnecessarily things out from her mind. _I must focus . . . Private emotion can wait. _She took a deep breath to compose herself. _Calm down Temari . . . You need to calm down._

"Well, thank you for helping me, Nara. I hope we won't meet again", she said. _I hope next time we meet, it won't be like this Shikamaru . . ._

She bent down and took the straw hat she was wearing before and turned to look at Shikamaru for the last time. Her eyes bore right into Shikamaru's, staring deep into his soul. A few seconds past and finally she whirled around and started running.

Shikamaru was still staring at her back, totally hypnotized by her sea like eyes. Her eyes were big, the color was weird. It was green blue, almost green. A really weird color, but somehow, it suited her really well. Her eyes looked a little sad though. The girl was already at least 10 meter from Shikamaru when he finally snapped out from his own genjutsu.

"Hey wait!"

"What!", the mysterious woman replied, slightly annoyed as she tilted her head to look past from her shoulder.

"How did you know my name?" Shikamaru asked after realizing that she had called his name even though he clearly didn't introduce himself just now.

_Damn! I let it slip! What should I say now? Shit shit!_ Temari was wrestling in her own mind but kept the composure perfectly on her face as she finally decided a simple answer. "Because I know."

Jaw dropped to the ground as Shikamaru groaned. _I just can't understand woman!_

"Anyway, what about you? What's your name? Where are you from? What with those kunais?", he demanded.

That mysterious woman replied with a smirk on her face. "I'm not from this village, of course. And I won't answer your other questions."

"Why?"

"Because you will know the answers eventually.", then she left. _Because you already know me . . . ._

'_What kind of answer is that?!' Shikamaru thought._

"Hey,WAIT!", Shikamaru said loudly –not shout okay – as the woman jumped to the nearest roof and disappeared.

"What's wrong with her?", Shikamaru said to himself, looking puzzled even more.

Then realization hit him like a thunder. _Oh God! I'm so dead!_ _I'm so dead!_ He quickly turned and forgot all the problems about the girl and ran toward the north. To Hokage's office. _I AM LATE!_

_To Be Continued_***

* * *

**So do you enjoy the story? Please R & R!**

**Special thanks for those who have reviewed :D**

**Cybercorpsesnake, Rotzugon, , Kaidouttori, trytohitmyface, gaara lover, airianna**


	4. Chapter 3 : Pineapple Leader

**Hello! I did tell you all that i'm having an exam right? And well, before the exam, i was writing this story and i was also fixing the story up :D it's a mess and i find it difficult to end it. ( it doesn't mean that it going to meet it end soon) so i make a prologue and also rewrite the whole story. Just adding something here and there of course. So, you all really need to reread the whole story. Thank you again for reading :D Please enjoy~**

* * *

"YOU ARE LATE, SHIKAMARU!", Lady Tsunade growled from her desk while gritting her teeth.

Lady Tsunade was very angry, her face was red and her eyes were as sharp as a dagger. If a stare could kill somebody, Shikamaru was **very** sure he would be dead by now. Laying on the floor, bleeding from head to toe with a hole on his chest and face!

"Sorry, Godaime-sama. Something came out and – "

"ENOUGH WITH YOUR EXCUSES!", she cut him off. "We shouldn't talk about those unnecessary stuffs. There are many important things that we need to discuss."

Lady Tsunade sighed heavily as she rubbed her forehead. A rather huge frowned was formed between her eyebrows. She looked tired and stress.

"What a drag . . .", Shikamaru mumbled under his breath.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!", Lady Tsunade glared at him with flame on her eyes, stress forgotten.

"N-no. Nothing.", he spluttered, frightened.

The flames reduced slightly, she had calmed down a little bit. Just a tiny little bit. She continued rubbing her forehead and turned her focused to the other thing.

"Good.", she replied. "Now, we need to discuss the mission that I will give you."

Shikamaru nodded.

"I will put you in a group with new comrades. Try to work together.", Lady Tsunade said, then called. "Shizune, tell them to come in now."

The door opened. Then three ninjas came in obediently. Shikamaru looked back to see who would be his new teammates. His eyeballs almost popped out when he saw his new teammates. It was the copy ninja, Kakashi, who was standing right behind him, hand holding his favorite book, Icha-Icha Paradise Vol. 4 – he sure was a daredevil! Reading smut in front of the Hokage. Beside Kakashi was Yamato, the ex-ANBU Black Ops, who stood straight with a serious expression and the last but not least was Sai, the ninja without any emotion or expression and also the ex-ANBU root member.

_What's with this group?! _Shikamaru thought. _Geez . . . This is going to be a long mission._

Shizune then came into the room with a big stack of documents in both of her hands, with Tonton behind her leg.

"Lady Tsunade, there are some new documents that you need to check and sign.", Shizune said while putting the new documents on the table.

Lady Tsunade groaned then rubbed her forehead again. She looked totally stressed and worn out. _Poor Godaime-sama. She looked completely stressed out. If I were her, I__think I would be ready to _

_commit suicide. Hmm . . Why would Naruto want to become a hokage anyway? All the work was checking and signing paperwork. I don't think it suit him very much. I wonder, does he know what a hokage's duty?_

Lady Tsunade cupped her face with her hands as she murmured. "Darn."

Shizune rolled her eyes and looked towards Shikamaru. Shikamaru was standing in front of Lady Tsunade with his hands in his pocket. His face looked drowsy. He was yawning when he realized that he was being watched. _How come I was kept on being watched today? _He looked back at Shizune and lifted his eyebrow.

"What?", he asked.

"Well, there's something important that Lady Tsunade needs to inform you.", she replied and looked towards Lady Tsunade who was still cupping her face with both of her hands. So Shizune continued. "You will be put as the head of the group for this mission."

Shikamaru looked shocked when Shizune was done talking. _Wait . . . . Me? The team leader in a group full of ex-ANBUs?_

"Why me? All of them were ex-ANBUs. They have more experience and higher ranking than me. Even Sai is better. No offense." Shikamaru insisted.

Kakashi looked up from his book and looked at Yamato beside him. Yamato looked back. Both of them smiled.

"Well Shikamaru, Godaime-sama must have her reason to choose you as the leader.", Kakashi said as he patted Shikamaru's shoulder.

"But-"

"Don't worry Shikamaru, Kakashi and Yamato will assist you.", Shizune said, sounded comforting.

"Godaime-sama, I -"

"ENOUGH, SHIKAMARU NARA!", Lady Tsunade commanded. " I have my own reason and you will do as I say, OR will you not?"

Shikamaru gulped and nodded his head. There's no use in debating with Lady Tsunade anyway. It would only become even more troublesome.

"Yes, I will.", he said, defeated.

"Good.", Lady Tsunade said, continued on writing on her scroll, checking the new documents that Shizune had put on her desk.

"So, what's the mission, Lady Tsunade?", Sai asked.

Lady Tsunade looked up and her expression was dead serious. The usual serious face she put on when she was giving a high rank mission.

"You all will be given an A-rank mission. Go to Suna tomorrow to get information from Kazekage about Akatsuki. I have asked the Kazekage to cooperate since we knew almost nothing about these ninjas. Even our spy couldn't report anything.", Lady Tsunade exclaimed.

"Akatsuki? Are they that dangerous?", Shikamaru asked.

"You don't know about them, Pineapple head?", Sai asked which was followed by everyone's laughter.

Shikamaru glared at him lazily –too much effort!-. _Is that why he didn't speak from just now? To think of a nickname to give me? Great! Troublesome._

"Don't call me that." Shikamaru demanded.

"Why? I think it suits you a lot, _ head."_ Kakashi said while laughing through his mask.

Shikamaru sighed. _If I argue with them, I need to use a lot of my energy to talk and bicker. If I don't argue with them, it would only make them look stupid since I ignore them. I don't need to use any energy too_. So he just kept quiet and turned back to Lady Tsunade.

"So, what's an Akatsuki?" Shikamaru asked nonchalantly.

As she felt Shikamaru's stare, she quickly stop her laughter and put her serious face once again.

"Well, Akatsuki is a group formed of some rogue ninjas with unknown reason. They have killed many ninjas so far. They once targeted the Mizukage but failed. Well they almost succeeded, if she was alone without any of her body guards.", Lady Tsunade smirked.

She looked happy by the fact that Mizukage-sama couldn't protect herself. Then she put on the serious face _once again_ when she heard Shizune clearing her throat. It was so clear that Shizune was telling Godaime-sama to act more serious. Kakashi and Yamato were trying to hold their laughter _again_, Shikamaru just shook his head, then sighed. Well, Sai just smiled. Shikamaru must admit it. His smile looked creepy, even for him.

"Well, we don't know what their goal is yet. What we know about them is that they are dangerous. So we need you all to investigate about them. Ask information about these Akatsuki from the Kazekage first. Then join the Kazekage's investigating team. Return here and report after you have done what you need for the Kazekage. Does as he say. Got it?", Lady Tsunade said then turned her attention back to the document she was holding once again.

Without waiting for their answer or turning her attention back to them, she continued. "So, I need you all to go to Suna and get the information about Akatsuki and help the Kazekage to find them! If you can, get one of them. Do your best. Try to minimize the casualties. You will leave tomorrow morning.", Lady Tsunade ordered.

"Yes, Godaime-sama!", they said, looking serious. They had activated their business mode.

"Good. You are all dismissed.", Lady Tsunade exclaimed, finally turned her attention to the four ninjas who were standing like a stone in front of her desk.

"Hai!" All of them answered in unison.

Kakashi went out first after bowing, with Yamato behind him. Then Sai walked out in silence, still wearing the creepy smile. When Shikamaru was about to leave, Lady Tsunade called.

"Oh yeah, Shikamaru. I forgot to say that the Akatsuki you are going to deal with is a bunch of troublesome kunoichi you know?", Lady Tsunade smirked.

Shikamaru looked at her, eyes widened slightly and mouth agape then sighed.

"Troublesome!", he groaned.

Shikamaru went out and closed the door behind him. After he left long enough, Lady Tsunade and Shizune burst in laughter that they had hold on.

"This kid really thinks that everything is troublesome, especially when it comes to women!", Shizune said while giggling.

"Yeah.", Lady Tsunade replied in between her laughter.

_To Be Continued_***

* * *

**So do you enjoy the story? Please R & R!**

**Special thanks for those who have reviewed :D**

**Cybercorpsesnake, Rotzugon, , Kaidouttori, trytohitmyface, gaara lover, airianna**


	5. Chapter 4 : Earrings

**Hello! I did tell you all that i'm having an exam right? And well, before the exam, i was writing this story and i was also fixing the story up :D it's a mess and i find it difficult to end it. ( it doesn't mean that it going to meet it end soon) so i make a prologue and also rewrite the whole story. Just adding something here and there of course. So, you all really need to reread the whole story. Thank you again for reading :D Please enjoy~**

* * *

That night, very unlike Shikamaru, he actually couldn't sleep. He had too much thought in his mind. He needed some fresh air to clear his mind, so he went to his clan forest to clear his mind, maybe looking at the deer could clear his overloaded brain. He had packed the things that he will need tomorrow just now. Some change clothes – enough for a week - , medicines, bandages, weapons and a sleeping bag. When he arrived, he saw a herd of deer sleeping around each other. Shikamaru looked at them with a smile. He walked to the tree beside those deer, laying down with his head leaning against the tree behind him. He started to yawn, eyes teary. Putting his hands behind his head, his eyes wandered around the forest. His mind was replying back the incident that happened this afternoon.

_That girl really is mysterious, came from nowhere and left without telling her name. Troublesome woman._

He tried to review how the girl that he had helped looked like, she was hurt, bleeding and still looked arrogant and full of pride. But she looked a little weird. _Hmm. _When she was staring deep inside him, he felt something weird swilling around his stomach. And the look she was giving, it looked a little dejected. There was sadness shinning deep inside her eyes. But she managed to cover those sadness using her scary and evil eyes.

_What's wrong with the look she gave anyway? Why did she look so sad when she smiled just now? And the first time she saw me, why did she look so surprised and . . . . Happy? What if she put her evil mask down, what would have happened to her? What would she look like?_

On its own, Shikamaru's mind started imagining the girl. The girl he had seen this afternoon. How she stood proudly while bleeding. She didn't slouch. Not even the slightest. She stood straight, shoulder back. Her eyes flaming with sadness under the arrogant and smug look she had put on. She covered it with her glaring eyes, smirking haughtily while the blood was still pouring down from the cut on her head.

Shikamaru trembled. _Okay . . . She looked scary, really scary. She had really covered her sadness wholly, no one would ever notice those sad looking expression hidden in her eyes. There's no way anyone could saw through those mask she hold on tight . . ._

No one. Except Shikamaru, he saw through her. He didn't know why he cared. He didn't know why he could see through those perfectly made mask. Her perfect mask. Those sea like eyes.

"Damn! I need to stop thinking about her!", Shikamaru groaned, waking one of the baby deer up.

Shikamaru turned to looked at it and smile apologetically. "Sorry, man."

He sighed as he closed his eyes one more time, trying to stop thinking. But his brain didn't do as he wanted. The images of that girl kept on coming, one by one. In the first image, she was smirking while standing right in front of him. Like this afternoon. In the second image, she was bleeding, laying on the floor. Shikamaru gasped as he saw that image flicking in his brain. And in the third image, she was crying, bleeding from head to toe, the sadness that was locked deep inside her was shown perfectly on her face. A man was standing behind her with a kunai on her neck.

Shikamaru jumped up, hands waving in the midair. "NOOOOO!" Shikamaru looked around carefully as he took a deep breath. "I was dreaming . . ."

He shook his head, "Why did I dream about her?"

_I need to sleep._ Shikamaru then got up, stretched, patting his pants, clearing the dirt off his pants.

"Hmm . . Tonight is really beautiful.", Shikamaru looked up at the sky, admiring the dark blue sky for a few seconds before a person flew past the dark sky and hopped into the forest.

_Who's that?!_

Shikamaru quickly ran towards the spot that the mysterious person had landed. He would never let any intruders enter his clan's forest without permission. _Even though it's very troublesome._ He added as an afterthought.

He ran passed the trees with his maximum speed. The wind blew through his face was as sharp as a blade. It really hurt but Shikamaru put it aside, his mind kept on focusing on the target he was searching for. When he was already out of forest, he saw no one. In this occasion, he always wished that he had Byakugan.

"Shimatta!", he cursed, clenching his fist.

He decided to check around the forest, who knows he could find any clues. He ran through the forest, searching delicately. He looked everywhere, right left, up, down – if possible - , and everywhere that a person could possibly use as their hiding spots. But he still found no one, nothing, nothing at all. He was panting heavily as he tried to calm his breath down. He was really tired and to make it worse, he lack of sleep. Now, he was very exhausted, he needed to rest. A full day rest.

He looked up at the sky as the sun started to rise. It was dawn. Shikamaru observed the colorful sky for a minute before he decided to go home. _Hope I can concentrate on my mission later_.

He turned as he started to run. When he was running, he caught a glimpse of a shiny thing on the ground. He stopped on his track and walked towards that shiny reflection and picked it up. He looked at it and started to observe it for a while. It was a stud kind of earring. But only one instead of a pair. Someone must have dropped it accidentally.

_An earring?! What is this earring doing here anyway?_ Shikamaru wondered to himself. _Maybe its mum's._ After he's done struggling with himself, he put it into his pocket and ran back to his house. Along the way, he saw a few deer had woken up.

_Lucky them that they could have their beauty sleep._

* * *

**~At a certain place~**

There were 6 girls camping at the side of a forest. All of them wore the same outfit, a black robe with red edges as well as red clouds patterns. Beside them was a medium-sized tent, and not far from the tent was a bonfire – still lurking some fire out of it - . A girl with a long red hair with a white bandana was standing near the tent, looking up the sky with a blank expression. While another girl with a long and dark blue hair and a brunette with two buns tied up were sitting on a log. The brunette was playing with her kunai, threw it up and down using her index finger. The blue-haired girl was fidgeting with her finger tips. And there were the other two girls standing side by side, guarding their camp. They were looking around until one of them gasped.

"Something's wrong?", the girl beside her asked, her hands together, ready to form a seal.

"Iie . . Gomen ne. I think I just lost my earring.", the girl said looking apologetically. She had a sandy colored blonde hair. Her hair was tied up into four weird pigtail.

"Is it precious?", the girl beside her asked again.

"Hai. It's a gift from him.", she replied, looking a little sad, as she tried to compose her expression again.

"How did you get it? It's not time yet.", the other blonde girl who was sitting on a branch asked, confused.

"_She_ gave it to me last time before she left." The four pigtails girl replied, smirking. "I hope she won't get angry at me for losing it."

"I think she will. After all she is just like you." The red hair girl gushed from the place she stood.

"Yeah, I bet she will." The brunette cut in, smilling devilishly. "Wanna bet?" The brunette nudged the girl beside her, asking for her opinion.

"N-no t-thank y-you." She smiled.

"No fun." The brunette groaned and continued to play with her kunai.

The red hair and the blonde who was sitting on a branch of tree laughed at the brunette, enjoying the pouting figure.

"Well, I hope you can find it soon Tem." The girl beside the four pigtail girl said, smilling slightly before returning to her duty.

Temari smiled sincerely and turned to look up at the cloud. "Yeah. I will keep this just in case I found it." She touched her left ear absentmindedly as her mind wondered to a certain lazy ninja. _This is after all a memorial from him._

___To Be Continued_***

* * *

**Confusing? Of course it is! Because it is the element i need! Lol. Anyway, don't stop reading just keep it going and you will finally understand. More explanation up ahead :D**

**Please R & R!**

**Special thanks for those who have reviewed :D**

**Cybercorpsesnake, Rotzugon, , Kaidouttori, trytohitmyface, gaara lover, airianna**


	6. Chapter 5 : New Discovery

**Hello! I did tell you all that i'm having an exam right? And well, before the exam, i was writing this story and i was also fixing the story up :D it's a mess and i find it difficult to end it. ( it doesn't mean that it going to meet it end soon) so i make a prologue and also rewrite the whole story. Just adding something here and there of course. So, you all really need to reread the whole story. Thank you again for reading :D Please enjoy~**

* * *

"Okaa-san, is this earring yours?" Asked Shikamaru while showing the earring he found last night to his mother.

His mother eyed the earring for a while before shaking her head. She was still holding it tightly.

"Nope. It's not mine. Where did you find it?" His mother asked. Her eyes were still fixed on the earring.

"In our forest." He replied curtly as he took one of the onigiri and ate it in one motion.

"In our forest? And when is that?" Turning her attention back to her son, she glared at the eating figure.

"Tha- . . . Ehm . ." Yoshino's stare intense slightly. Noticing that lying was no use, Shikamaru gave up and answered. "Last night."

"Last night? Don't tell me that you didn't sleep last night." Yoshino accused, her hands slamming onto the dining table. She flinched slightly when the earring stab her palm. Shikamaru gulped and looked at his mother innocently. _Looks like I need to use my secret jutsu before she ripped my head off._

"Well . . Anou . . Ye- yeah. I didn't sleep, I couldn't sleep." He defended while using his sweetest voice, his eyes looking wide. _Hidden Inuzuka clan's jutsu: Puppy eyes technique._

"Your stupid jutsu is no use Shikamaru. Now, tell me why did you go o- . . . . wait . . . Just now, did you say you couldn't sleep?" His mother gasped in surprised._ My son? Shikamaru? Couldn't sleep?!_

"Yes I did mom. I say I couldn't sleep." Shikamaru groaned and continued his eating session.

"You imposter! What have you done to my son?!" Yoshino screamed, her eyes widened.

Shikamaru stared at his mom before sighing. "Mom! I'm serious!"

Yoshino lifted one of her eyebrow then heaved a sigh. "Okay okay. Back to the topic. Shikamaru." She said harshly. "You do know that today you have an A rank mission right?! If you are all worn out, how can you think of a strategy? Because of your lacked of sleep, it might cause someone's life you know Shikamaru? Just because you haven't went through those painful experience doesn't mean that you – " Yoshino kept on ranting although Shikamaru had stopped listening.

Shikamaru sighed. _What a drag._ He tried his best to block all those lectured that his mom gave without using his hands. If he used his hand to close his ears, he was very sure that his mother would smack his hand or hit his head using the frying pan that always appeared out of nowhere every time his mother needed it.

"Okaa-san, I'll be alright! Trust me." Shikamaru interjected while yawning, he didn't look convincing though. Not even the slightest.

Yoshino glared at him, giving him her infamous death glare which sent a cold shiver down Shikamaru's spine. He swallowed his half eaten onigiri nervously.

_Wrong move._

" Hm. . Oh my, look at the time okaa-san. I'm late. Gotta go." Shikamaru quickly got up and grabbed the stud earring in one motion as he took his bag from the chair beside him and went to the front door, wore his sandals in a flashed –If anyone in the villages actually saw this, their eyes might pooped out but not Yoshino. She had gotten used to it. Every time Shikamaru sensed danger around him, he would escape -well, he was after all the number one at running away- in a flash. Meaning, the one who always emitted the danger aura was Yoshino.

"Don't get killed okay! It will be too troublesome to bear a new child just for the Clan's head!" Yoshino shouted loudly, standing outside their house. Shikamaru had left in hurry and forgot to say good bye.

Yoshino smirked evilly to the empty road in front of her. _I will punish him for sure._

* * *

Shikamaru was running in a hurry to the Konoha gate, around half way when suddenly a shiver went down his spine. _What the- What's with this creepy feeling I felt?!_

He looked back the road that he had passed just now, looking through the distance and finally realized. No one could creep him out like this. No one. . . Except . . .

"Mom!"

* * *

Shikamaru, Sai, and Yamato were standing in front of the Konoha gates, waiting for Kakashi. They had waited for almost 25 minutes.

There's a booth near the right corner of the gate with a looking bored Kotetsu and Izumo in it. They always got the position as the guard, ALWAYS and somehow, they always seen together and rarely separated. _Hmm . . . I wonder what kind of relation they have._

Yamato, the ex ANBU Black Ops stood near the booth with crossed arms, looking as stern as usual while Sai was reading his guidance book. Yeah, a guidance book. Lately he had started to read those weird books –Who knows why- and one of the books that he had read actually gave him an idea to give other people nickname! He had tried to give Chouji a nickname once. Guess what's his nickname! Its FAT. Unbelievable right?! Well, he was lucky. Before Chouji could hear a thing, Shikamaru had closed both Chouji's ears in time.

Shikamaru eyed the book that Sai was holding. He tried to make out the title from where he stood with a piercing hawk eyes. Hmm . . H-how to interact with yo-your comrades for Dummies. Shikamaru rolled his eyes. _At least the title suited him very well. Dummy._

He looked up the sky and sighed. Shikamaru had started to regret his decision to come so early. He should have known that. Kakashi was the legendary LATE ninja. He grumbled inwardly saying _'should have catch some sleep'_ . So he closed his eyes and within a minute he had started to wander off to his favorite place -dreamland- in his standing position –he learned it from his dad-.

After half an hour of waiting, Kakashi finally appeared out of nowhere.

"Yo." He said with his usual cheerful and nonchalant attitude. Reluctantly, Shikamaru opened his left eyes to gaze at the late nin.

"You are late, Kakashi-sensei." Shikamaru pointed as matter of fact, he looked tired and sleepy.

"Sorry, there was a weasel in front of my apartment which blocked my way out. I tried to shoo it gently but it jumped into my clothes. So I spend the whole time to get rid of the weasel. So, you see, it's not entirely my fault." Kakashi defended himself with his infamous lousy excuse.

"Yeah, right." Shikamaru said mockingly. "Now, since all of us had already arrived, let's go. We need to hurry." He said in authority, although he was the youngest in the team. But he had been after all appointed as the team leader for this mission so he must switch his serious mode on. Like it or not.

All of them nodded in agreement.

* * *

They had run for almost an hour now and they hadn't rested even a bit. Shikamaru said they needed to arrive in Suna in two days, so they had been running as quickly as possible to shorten the three days journey in two.

Shikamaru had kept on yawning since they left Konoha. He was very sleepy since he didn't sleep last night.

Yamato glance at him a little. He had noticed that Shikamaru looked more tired and sleepy than usual. And he had also yawned more than fifty times in one hour.

"Shikamaru, you have been yawning since earlier. Haven't you slept?" Yamato asked with a concerned look in his face.

"Can't sleep huh pineapple head?" Sai teased.

Shikamaru growled inwardly. "Yeah. Well, I couldn't sleep last night and ended up staying all night long in the forest." Shikamaru answered sleepily.

"What?!" All of them shouted disbelievingly. Even Sai was shocked too –don't ask me if he really was shocked or he was just imitating them.

Well, of course they were surprised. If you tell anyone in Konoha that Shikamaru couldn't sleep, trust me no one will believe you. Mark my word. **NO ONE** would believe it. Who would? After all, he was the laziest of all shinobi in the hidden leaf.

Shikamaru groaned again. "I'm still a human you know."

'Glad to hear that' was the only answer.

Then they continued their journey silently.

* * *

Two days had passed, and finally they would arrive in Suna.

"How much longer?" Kakashi asked Sai.

"15 more minutes if we speed up." Sai replied. He had drawn an eagle to check. They didn't meet any enemies thanks to Sai's eagle. It had kept an eye on everything and had warned them if anything dangerous was approaching them. They tried their best to avoid confrontation.

Kakashi nodded and looked at Shikamaru. Shikamaru maybe was a genius in strategies but he was not as strong as the three of them which means he was the weakest in the team. He also had a little chakra resource.

"Can you still keep up?" Kakashi asked.

"Think so."

Sai and Yamato nodded, speeding up. Kakashi at the front and Yamato beside him. Sai was behind them with Shikamaru behind him gasping like hell. Shikamaru looked totally worn out and exhausted since he didn't sleep well and he had used up all of his energy. His face had turned green ready to vomit in a few seconds.

Kakashi looked at him and examined him from head to toe before he phrased his inquiry.

"Think you can hold it a bit more?" Kakashi asked.

Shikamaru just nodded, he was too tired to speak. Like hell he could, he couldn't even open his mouth without gasping for air.

"We are almost there, a little bit more, Shikamaru." Yamato exclaimed, standing on top of a tree.

He could see all of the sand dunes in front of the forest. A little bit more and they would be in the desert, in the land of Wind Country.

All of them fired up and sped up even more. Even the unmotivated Shikamaru.

_We are almost there, must speed up. I can do it. Oh . . What a drag!_

* * *

"Good afternoon, we are shinobi from Konoha as you can see." Kakashi said while pointing at his forehead protector which is more likely protecting his left eye. "We had a mission given by Hokage-sama. We need to meet Kazekage-sama."

"Hai, I have heard it from Kazekage-sama that we will have some shinobi from Konoha for a certain mission." He replied then looked at the worn out Shikamaru. " Is he alright?"

Shikamaru nodded, he was still out of breath. He tried to calm his breath down using the inhale-exhale technique –which was usually used by pregnant women as they give birth-.

The guard nodded and looked towards his partner.

"I will escort them to the Kazekage office."

His partner nodded and turned his gazed to the endless sand in front of him.

The man left with Shikamaru and the team behind him. They walked down the crowded street and went pass a lot of busy markets. They arrived at the Kazekage's office within twelve minutes. And Shikamaru had regained some of his energy back. He looked healthier than just now. Which was good.

_Knock. Knock._ The man who escorted them knocked the door, waiting for 27 seconds before he heard the usual monotone sound from the Kazekage.

"Enter." The sound ordered them with a calm voice.

The man opened the door and led them inside. Shikamaru went in first, followed by Kakashi, Yamato and Sai. The man stood in front of Kazekage's desk and bowed deeply with respect. Gaara just nodded as the man looked back up.

"I had escorted them as you ordered, Kazekage-sama." he said.

Kazekage nodded his head a little and gestured him to leave. The man bowed down deeply once again and disappeared immediately, leaving some chakra smoke behind.

"Welcome to Suna, how's your trip Kakashi-san? Shikamaru-san?" Kazekage asked. He didn't recognize the other two. "I believe I never see you two before."

"The trip was fine, thanks for the concern, Kazekage-sama. And these two are my new subordinates. Yamato and Sai." Kakashi replied pointing at Yamato and Sai.

Both of them bowed a little and straightened back up. Gaara looked at both of them in his usual cold emotionless face. He nodded.

"You must be the ex-ANBU Lady Tsunade had told me about."

"Yes indeed Kazekage-sama." Both of them said in unison.

Then after a quite long silent, Shikamaru said, "So about the mission." He stopped and looked at the still not moving Gaara so he decided to continue. "Hokage-sama told us to get information about Akatsuki from you Kazekage-sama."

Gaara remained silent for a while. He was thinking what to say. Flashing back all the incident that had happened a while ago.

"Yes, some of our shinobi saw a couple of suspicious ninja wandering around the desert few days ago. And when they went there to check on them and as a result, they were killed."

"How many had died?" Kakashi asked.

"6." Gaara replied curtly.

"What the?!" Shikamaru gasped.

"What about the enemy? Can you be a little more specific?" Yamato interrogated.

"3."

"Only three?" Kakashi asked in disbelief.

"What happened?" Shikamaru asked demandingly which surprised Gaara.

"_This lazy man had become more reliable huh."_ Gaara thought. _"People sure change."_

"Well, the gate guard saw a ninja standing alone in the desert for two days, wandering around suspiciously so 2 of our people went to find that ninja and tried to talk to her nicely but they failed. So they started to fight and surprisingly they lost the fight. When the other 3 guard came to rescue them, they were being ambushed by the other two suspicious ninjas coming from under the sand. And one of your ninja who was on his way to Suna for a mission saw the incident and quickly summoned an eagle and sent it to Suna. But he was unlucky since he was caught by one of those unknown ninja. He was also killed."

"What did he send, Kazekage-sama?" Yamato asked.

Gaara opened the drawer and took out a scroll. It was black and had a Konoha mark on it.

"I have told you half of the contents. You may see the other contents by yourself." Gaara replied and stretched out his right hand still holding the scroll.

Shikamaru stepped forward and took it from Gaara's hand.

"Now you may have some rest, our ninja will be back tomorrow with more information. Come here tomorrow at 10 am. You may go now."

"Hai." They bowed and left the room.

* * *

Gaara walked down the corridor in his usual Kazekage robe, and his gourd. Some ninja bowed at him whenever he walked past. He just nodded in reply. Gaara entered a room and saw a man in a black shirt. He was directing his subordinate about something.

"Kankurou." Gaara called coldly.

The man quickly turned and saw his beloved brother standing in the threshold, arms on his chest.

"Hey lil' bro." Kankurou walked over to Gaara with a grin on his face.

Kankurou put his right elbow onto Gaara's shoulder and leaned on to him, letting all his body weight on to Gaara's body.

"Sorry Gaara, I haven't found her yet." Kankurou said while looking at his subordinate who was taking some scroll from the drawer.

Gaara remained silent. Kankurou glanced at his little brother then stood straight and walked towards the desk. He took his cat-like hood and scrolls that contained his puppet. And turned towards Gaara who was still standing still without moving, his face was neutral like always but Kankurou could feel the sadness Gaara was emitting that only his closest siblings would know.

"I promise I will find her." Kankurou promised. "I promise."

His heart was throbbing with guilt and despair. If he could, he would have kneel on the floor and cried. But his pride didn't let him. So, he stood there with the blank expression that Gaara usually had.

"I know you will."

Gaara walked toward him and stood in front of his older brother. He held his head up to look at Kankurou clearly-since he is shorter than Kankurou- and uncomfortably put his left hand on top of Kankurou's left shoulder for a second before dropping it back to his side. Kankurou smiled, the silly grin had reappeared from his face. He knew that Gaara was trying to reassure him, he had actually step out from his comfort zone to try and brighten Kankurou.

"Satetsu-san, let's go. We have a lot of things to do." Kankurou said and walked out of the room.

The man who was all focused on the scroll he was reading quickly stood up and put the scroll into his pouch. He startled when he saw Gaara standing right behind him. He was looking at the blank wall in front of him. Satetsu quickly bowed to Gaara and received the usual cold and curt nod from the Kazekage. Then Satetsu left the room where Gaara still remained.

"Please find her brother." Gaara said quietly which was more likely not addressing to anyone since there was no one in the room except himself.

___To Be Continued_***

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**Soo, what do you think? Does it become better after the fixing? Please tell me your opinion. Every kind of reviews are greatly appreciated!**

**Please R & R!**

**Special thanks for those who have reviewed :D**

**Cybercorpsesnake, Rotzugon, , Kaidouttori, trytohitmyface, gaara lover, airianna**


	7. Chapter 6 : Oops

**Yeey! Another update! Hurray~**

**Yeah i know it's been so long since the last one but please forgive me! I was well . . . . . . to damn lazy to update it and i found a job (the job suck!) but don't worry i quit already so i can finally write (or type) in peace. I hope i won't be lazy. hihi**

**anyway, please enjoy the new chapter!**

**Disclaimer : i don't own Naruto. if i do, it will be Shikamaru shipuuden instead of Naruto shipuuden (one question, how to write shippuden? shippuden or shipuuden?)**

* * *

"What did the scroll say, Kakashi-sensei?" Shikamaru asked while he scooped another spoon of rice into his mouth.

"It said that those suspicious ninjas were girls. It also described all the girls' figures. Here." Kakashi handed the scroll to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru took the scroll and put it on the table.

"Let's see." He mumbled while stuffing another spoon of rice into his mouth.

He put the plates - which were empty then - to the side and unfurled the scroll on the table so Yamato and Sai could see.

He looked at the bloody scroll which was really obvious that the scroll was written with blood as a substitute for the ink.

It said,

'_My name is Mifu from Konoha. I was on my way to Suna for a C-rank mission. When I arrived in between the border line of the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind, I heard a loud metal clacking sound. Filled with curiosity, I searched around the forest, went to the desert and saw 3 ninjas. There were 2 ninjas from Suna and a ninja that I couldn't identify. The ninjas from Suna were fighting with the unknown ninja. That person was wearing a black coat with several red designs on the bottom and a straw hat so I couldn't see that person's face.'_

Shikamaru raised his left eyebrow. _A black coat with several red designs on the bottom? Hmm . . It sounded familiar._

Kakashi noticed Shikamaru's confusion and asked, "Something's suspisious?"

Shikamaru looked up. "Ah . . No." He quickly said again to affirm his answer, "It's nothing."

Then he quickly continued to read the scroll, leaving the not-satisfied Kakashi.

'_I quickly hid behind a big rock and watched them fight from the place I crouched. I could see that the Suna ninjas were going to die, they were far too weak compared to their opponent because even though I wasn't a sensor type ninja, I could feel a really strong chakra emitting from the unknown ninja._

_I was about to step out from my hiding place to help them – since Suna had helped Konoha 4 years ago - when I heard a scream from a Suna ninja who had bandages all over his face. A scream that was so dreadful that made me step back -this was no coward action I tell you. The ninja with bandages all over his face was vomiting blood. He was being stabbed on his back by the enemy ninja. A long katana stabbed through the poor man's heart. Then the other ninja with a long deep scar on his face ran towards the enemy ninja from behind and was about to attack when that ninja hit the man on his head with his bare hand. With that move, the straw hat dropped and revealed its master's face._

_It was a woman. A __dark-skinned kunoichi, with long flaming hair and amber eyes. Her face was clear and clean but was immediately dirtied by the blood of her opponent._

_In just 2 minutes, another Suna shinobi came to assist. But suddenly 2 other unknown ninjas came out from the ground, from the sand to be exact. Another kunoichi. __The first was a girl with a __medium length brown hair, dark eyes and fair skin.__ The other one was taller than the first girl. She had a pair of blue green eyes and dark sandy blonde hair – I couldn't identify her hair length since she was wearing a straw hat too, I could only see her bangs. They were wearing the same clothes as the first one. They might be a group._

_As I watched them fight, I was sure that those Suna shinobis wouldn't stand a chance. Those kunoichis were tough. A jounin. Or maybe it was even higher than a jounin. They were, take or give, almost as skillful as a sannin._

_They had terminated all those Suna ninjas and was about to leave when I left my guard down. My leg slipped and made a __**crack**__ noise. This is it, I'll be terminated. Please tell my wife I love her.'_

The last word stung a lot. It was confirmed that Mifu had been caught and killed.

_Poor man, he sure is very unlucky._

"So, what did you find out from the scroll, Shikamaru?" Kakashi asked as he looked up from his – already cold - tea.

Shikamaru folded his arms and put it on the table as he said seriously, "These kunoichis aren't just ordinary ninjas. And they are also very skilled."

"Indeed. The first woman could kill 2 Chuunin Suna ninjas so easily without any help, that alone already tells us how strong she is." Yamato exclaimed. A frown was seen in between his eyebrow, showing how hard he was thinking.

"Yes.", Kakashi nodded in agreement. "What about their identity? Can any of you identify who they are by the report? Maybe some missing ninja you guys saw from the Bingo Book? Maybe in the Anbu Bingo Book?"

"Hmm..", the three of them said in unison. Shikamaru scratched his head and rubbed his temple and proceeded to his usual thinking pose. Yamato reread the scroll once more. Sai stayed silent, the usual smile was still there.

Kakashi sighed. _This is going to be a hard one._

"From the scroll, it had told us a lot actually. We already know there are 3 kunoichis and maybe more. One of them used Katana. All of them wear the same robe, black robe with red trimmings and some red design on the bottom part. So, it might be an organization. And . . wa- wait." Shikamaru stopped. "Yamato-san, can I?"

Shikamaru eyed the scroll that Yamato was reading. Yamato looked towards the scroll and nodded. He moved to the other seat to let Shikamaru sat down. Shikamaru took the offered seat and reread the scroll furiously. He scanned the scroll, not leaving any details left out. He read it over and over again to try to find the thing that had been bugging him from just now.

'. . . . _went to the desert and saw 3 ninjas. . . . . . . . .Suna and a ninja that I couldn't identify. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fighting with the unknown ninja. . . . . . . . wearing a black coat with several red designs on the bottom and a . . . . .'_

_a black coat with several red designs on the bottom._ He thought. _Black coat . . . black coat . . . _

He reread the scroll again. _Why do I feel dejavu?_

' _. . . . girl with a __medium length brown hair, dark eyes and fair skin.__ And the other was taller than the first girl. She had a pair of blue green eyes and dark sandy blonde hair – I couldn't identify her hair length since she was wearing. . . .'_

_Blue green eyes, dark sandy blonde hair, sandy blonde, blue green eyes . . . ._

Without even realizing, Shikamaru had formed his usual thinking pose. He thought back all the incidents that he had ventured.

_A day ago, we were on our way to Suna. Running in silence as we passed the woods. We stopped in a dango shop to rest and we met a couple of friends. . . . . . 2 days ago it was still the same. Running, jumping, resting, running, eating, sleeping, and running again. 3 days ago . . . . the same. When we were still in Konoha, I met Chouji, Naruto, Hokage-sama, then . . . . Wa-wait a minute. I think I forgot something. What is it?! Why do I feel that i missed something really important? I need to remember every detail. Every detail. I was cloud-watching and Naruto came. Annoyed, I ran out and met Chouji standing in front of Ino's flower shop. Ah. Talk about Ino, it's been some time since I last saw her. If I was right Chouji said he didn't see her quite a while too. Hmm. . Then we went to the barbeque shop and talked about Akatsuki and I left earlier since I need to meet Hokage-sama. Then . . then . . . Oh! I met a girl. An injured girl. She was wearing a black robe and some red clouds on the bottom. She had a pair of dark green eyes almost teal and a blonde hair. Although she was shorter than me she was really scary. Then I went to the Hokage's office and . . . . Wait! That's it! Dark green almost teal eyes . . . . Teal eyes. Blonde hair. Black robe. Red clouds on the bottom._

Shikamaru reviewed the scroll he had read in his head . _. . . had a pair of blue green eyes and dark sandy blonde hair . . __. . wearing a black coat with several red designs on the bottom and a .__ . . __. . __They were wearing the same clothes as the first one._

'_That can't be!'_ Shikamaru bit his lower lips and groaned inwardly. _'But both of them were so identical. Blue green eyes, blonde hair, same clothes. What if they really are the same person? That means . . . OH SH*T!'_

Shikamaru returned to the reality and frowned. "We are in trouble."

The sentences he said took them off guard. As Kakashi's eyes widened, Yamato looked at Shikamaru with a You-Are-Kidding-Me look while Said was still smilling.

Quickly gaining back his composure, Yamato asked. "What do you mean?"

"You found something." Kakashi asked. Well, he was more like stating a statement.

Shikamaru sighed and used his usual business-like attitude to explain what he had found.

"It will need a long explanation, so I will only say it in one conclusion. One of them had been in Konoha 4 days ago, right on the day when we receive this mission."

As he expected, all of them look at him in a _What – The – F*ck _expression but a lot more collected since they were all experienced ninjas.

He sighed.

"I met one of them in Konoha right before I went to the Hokage's office for this mission. I met her on the way.", Shikamaru explained.

They stayed quiet for a while, digesting all of the information that they've just gotten.

After Kakashi had considered all of the possibilities, he asked, "Are you sure she is one of them?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "I'm not really sure actually, but from what I saw, remembered and read, they had very high similarity. The clothes they wore were the same, and from this scroll that I had read, it's . .it's just very . . . very similar." He was lost of words.

Yamato noticed Shikamaru's hesitation and just nodded understandingly.

Finally, the quiet Sai opened his mouth. "So, what should we do?"

Kakashi thought for a second before looking at Shikamaru for instructions. Shikamaru looked back towards him. Kakashi nodded.

Shikamaru sighed again. "Alright, Kakashi-sensei, you will go to the Kazekage with Sai. Explain everything that I had said. While Yamato-san and I will go to deliver this news to Konoha using the Suna's bird. Understood?"

Kakashi and Sai nodded. "Yes sir."

They quicklu got ready and stood up. Sai went out first followed by Kakashi who stopped midway.

"Oh right. Yamato, please pay the bill for me 'kay? Thanks.", he said before disappearing, not letting Yamato say a thing.

Yamato looked at the seat that Kakashi once sat in, absolutely dumbfounded.

"Not again!", he grumbled.

Shikamaru looked at him and chuckled a little before he got back to his business attitude.

"Let's go Yamato-san, we've got business to do." He got up from his seat and walked out to the street.

Yamato shook his head in defeat as he took out a few bills from his wallet and put it on the table.

* * *

Kakashi and Sai had finally arrived at Kazekage's office. The guard downstairs said that Kazekage was still in his office doing some unfinished documents. They had knocked the door twice and right now, they were waiting for permission to go in.

"Come in."

Permission given, they opened the door and walked in to see a really messy office compared to the one they saw a few hours ago.

The scrolls were everywhere. Documents were arranged haphazardly on the floor, desk and even chair in front of Gaara. The Kazekage's hat was laying on top one of a document. There were also a few sand hands flying around while holding scrolls and documents. Gaara was stamping and reading the document he was holding. Brow furrowed at the sight in front of him.

"I deeply apologize for disturbing you so late at night, Kazekage-sama."Kakashi said while bowing as Sai followed suit.

Gaara sighed, but nodded. "Something's wrong?"

"Yes Kazekage-sama. Shikamaru found something. Looks like one of the Akatsuki member had slipped into Konoha without anyone noticing." Kakashi answered.

Gaara remained still and calm although he was yelling frantically inside his head as he coolly gestured Kakashi to continue. So Kakashi started to explain all the information that Shikamaru had explained to the rest of the teams expertly without missing a beat. It took him 12 minutes to finish explaining while Sai just stood there silently –still with the usual creepy smile- while watching the situation in front of him.

"So, we predicted that Lady Tsunade will send the reply by tomorrow afternoon. We will wait until then. What do you think Kazekage-sama?" Kakashi ended his long explanation.

Gaara nodded. "At that time my men should have returned from the information hunting. So we will discuss it again tomorrow. I will ask my advisor, Kankurou, Baki and 2 councils to discuss this. I believe Shikamaru-san is as good as Hokage-sama's advisor?"

Kakashi smiled. "Indeed Kazekage-sama. He is equally good or he might even be better. Just lacked of experience, I suppose."

"Just like me. Good." Gaara chuckled warmly, a rare thing to see.

"Hai." Kakashi replied with a smile nonetheles. "I will take my leave then Kazekage-sama, I apologize for disturbing you late at night when you are supposed to rest."

"It's fine. I still have a lot of documents that I had overlook last week. So I will be awake until . . . . All this documents had been stamped and recheck." Gaara sighed tiredly. "If you still need anything, I will be here."

Only in a time like this Gaara was glad that he could control the sand without wasting too much chakra. Well, he had been controlling the sand ever since he was a baby. So he had learned how to reduce the amount of chakra that he needed to control the sand especially in a time like this.

"I'm sorry to hear that Kazekage-sama. If it is Lady Tsunade, she would be in a really bad mood." Kakashi laughed softly.

"Do you need me to help you with those documents?" He offered kindly.

Well, Kakashi sure knew that it was impossible for Gaara to say yes. The document must be highly classified and not everyone was allowed to read it. So, it was a mere politeness.

Gaara shook his head and gestured to his sand. "I appreciate it but I have a lot of hands to help me with these." As soon as he finished, some more sand hands formed. One of it went to the door and opened it for Kakashi and Sai.

"Rest well Kakashi-san, Sai-san. Tomorrow will be a long day."

They nodded and bowed.

* * *

"Do you think it will arrive in Konoha before midnight?" Yamato asked, eyes gazing at the twilight.

The messenger bird had been sent a few hours ago. They had picked the fastest bird Suna provided which was Takamaru.

"It must. Or we will be in trouble." Shikamaru replied solemnly.

* * *

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